Jessica Palombo

Phone: (850) 487-3086 x364

Jessica Palombo got her master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. While interning at WAER News in Syracuse, she was awarded the Syracuse Press Club’s top prize for a radio feature story produced by a student. She interned at WAMU News and NPR's "Weekends at All Things Considered," both in Washington, D.C., before moving back to her home state of Florida. She then freelanced at WJCT News in Jacksonville before joining the staff of WFSU News full time. Before getting into radio, she was an editor, reporter and essayist for The Gainesville Sun, Skirt! Magazine and Jacksonville Magazine. When she's not reporting, Jessica enjoys acting in plays and films, cooking vegan food and discovering new music. Follow Jessica Palombo on Twitter: @JessicaPubRadio.

The worst flooding in 150 years has left many in Northeast Florida without homes, businesses and cars.

Hurricane Irma arrived in the Jacksonville area just as a nasty nor’easter was leaving, and the one-two punch sent lifelong residents fleeing from storm surge much higher than anything they’d ever imagined.

Two Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office police officers are expected to recover after they were shot while responding to a call Friday night. What started as a domestic incident also left a man dead after the shootout with police.

Ride-for-hire services like Lyft and Uber will have to comply with statewide rules, and religious expression at public schools will be explicitly protected in Florida, under new laws that go into effect Sat., July 1.

The changes are among 125 revisions the state Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Scott approved this year.

Jacksonville police are asking for help catching the men who they say stole a gun that was used to kill a police officer.

The Sheriff’s Office has released a video and photos of two men trying to open the door of a car in the Bartram Springs area last summer. The two are wanted in connection with burglaries of several cars parked on Wind Cave Avenue in the early morning hours of August 5.

Florida Democrats have managed to narrow an early Republican lead in the number of ballots cast before Election Day. The numbers appear to favor Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist—at first glance. But a state election-law change makes this election’s outcome harder to predict.

Six people who recently traveled from Ebola-affected regions are under twice-daily monitoring by the Florida Health Department. The state continues preparing in case someone tests positive.

No cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Florida, and all six of the people being monitored are considered low-risk. Gov. Rick Scott says just under 100 hospitals have completed special Ebola training, and he hopes more will do so.

Note: Every day this week, we’ll be taking a look at amendments on the Florida ballot.

We start with Amendment 1: the measure setting aside public money for environmental conservation. Supporters of the amendment say it’s a way to accomplish what the Legislature has failed to do. But opponents say the Constitution isn’t the place to write state budgets.

Florida State University student groups are hoping to get the state Board of Governors to block the presidential confirmation of state Sen. John Thrasher (R-St. Augustine). The groups and several faculty members have protested at every step of the search process this year, at one point leading to the resignation of the school’s original search consultant.

Blocks away from the Florida Capitol today, a group targeting climate-change deniers kicked off what it’s calling “Rick Scott’s Ark Tour.” The NextGen Climate Action Committee has spent more than $3.6 million so far in an attempt to inject climate change as an issue in the Florida governor’s race, according to finance records filed with the state.

Noah’s ark, or what looks just like it, was parked at a meter on a busy Tallahassee street. During the lunch-hour rush here, about two dozen college students were waving signs and handing out T-shirts to passing drivers.

With some precincts yet to report, Detzner says he believes more voters cast ballots early and absentee than on Election Day. However, the high percentage of voters taking advantage of alternative voting methods didn't contribute to high overall turnout. In fact, Detzner said he predicts fewer people participated in this midterm primary than in 2010, when 22 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

A Florida community with the highest concentration of Greek people in the country has been recognized as a Traditional Cultural Property by the National Park Service. Locals hope the designation for the Tarpon Springs Greektown Historic District brings tourists to the area.

At a Department of Health workshop in Tallahassee today, hopeful marijuana growers, lobbyists and others voiced concerns about Florida’s proposed rules governing medical cannabis. By the beginning of next year, the state can select up to five growers authorized to supply non-high-inducing marijuana under the so-called “Charlotte’s Web” law.

A Florida district court has denied a pregnant minor’s appeal to avoid notifying her parents she planned to have an abortion. The ruling stems from a 2004 state constitutional amendment requiring parents to be notified before teenage daughters terminate pregnancies.

The Orlando-area SunRail commuter train has gotten more than twice the anticipated number of daily riders since it opened on Thursday. Transportation officials say the demand is expected to slacken once they start charging for rides later this month.

Florida Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Olson says SunRail started with a bang.

Even with dozens of bills left on the agenda, the Florida Senate on Monday devoted hours to honoring outgoing Senate President Don Gaetz. Gaetz reflected on the chamber’s proudest accomplishments since he took the helm last year.

Before an audience of senators, lobbyists, reporters and family members, Gaetz took his spot at the Senate lectern for what will be one of the last times.

“I’ve made a thousand mistakes, and I ask your forgiveness for any slight or any offense,” he said at one point in the speech.

The Florida Legislature has voted to ban abortions if fetuses are shown to be able to live outside the womb on their own.

Before Friday’s Senate vote, Sen. Gwen Margolis (D-Miami) introduced an amendment banning vasectomies for men. Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa) saidMargolis wanted to show the male-dominated Senate what it’s like to have reproductive decisions made for you.

A passionately, tearfully debated bill legalizing non-smoked medical marijuana is headed to the Florida House floor after passing its final committee today. But some who voted for the measure warned they could not continue supporting it in its current form.

During Monday’s debate, several legislators acknowledged they’re part of a national sea change on the issue of medical marijuana.

Although Florida lawmakers filed more than 1,800 bills this year, most measures were not destined to become laws. Some were too controversial in an election year. Some died alone with no companion measure in the other chamber. And some bill sponsors simply lost the race against time.

One bill that some say would preempt local rules has anti-tobacco groups demanding it to be killed. The health advocates say the measure banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors also undoes local restrictions in more than 50 cities and counties.

The full Florida House is set to vote on a bill that's pitted Florida taxi cab operators against car-service tech company Uber. The measure narrowly passed its final committee today after its sponsor narrowed it to apply only in Tampa instead of statewide.

A bill significantly expanding Florida’s school voucher program is headed for the House floor, even though a similar proposal was withdrawn from the Senate, leading many to believe the issue was dead for this session. A Friday committee hearing revived a familiar—and heated—debate on education and religion.

Republican supporters want to increase funding to the state’s corporate tax scholarship program, they say, for parents who feel public school has failed their children—parents like Tallahassee mother of five Alyson Hochstedler.

Widely loved former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew was memorialized in Tallahassee this week before he’s laid to rest Friday in his home town of Pensacola. Those whose lives Askew touched paid their respects as he lay in state at the Historic Capitol Tuesday and at a church service today.

On Thursday, Florida Democratic House leaders announced policy priorities they say they won’t let go of without a fight this session: increasing education funding, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and getting more Floridians health insurance.

But Democrats likely face an uphill battle with almost twice their number of Republicans in the Legislature.

House Minority Leader Perry Thurston says Democrats want the education funding to include a new need-based component to the state’s Bright Futures college scholarship program.

He says Dems also want to continue the debate about getting more Floridians health insurance after the state chose not to take $51 billion in federal funding under the Affordable Care Act.

“Without a doubt, the Republicans are looking for a very smooth session. We think that the last thing that they want to address is the $51 billion elephant in the room," he says.

A bill giving guideposts for determining whether Florida lawmakers live in their districts is headed for the full Legislature after passing its committee Wednesday. The bill gives the Senate final say when allegations arise that someone lives outside their district.